Gilded Pumpkins...

Wow oh Wow...I love these gilded pumpkins...this has to be one of the greatest autumnal decorating ideas ever! Okay, I am a little carried away, but decorative painters the world over should be putting together a display for their living space.

Last fall (2008) Country Living magazine featured these beautiful photos and article about Carol Kemery, decorative painter, nurse and owner of Caromal Colours...a paint company that allows homeowners to do decorative painting on their own, including the GILDING project featured here.

for more pictures visit Country Living


How to Gild a Pumpkin with a kit from Caromal Colours

photos from Country Living magazine and Caromal Colours



Step 1
For real or faux pumpkins, be sure surface is clean and dry. Wearing gloves, apply base coat with a paintbrush to seal the surface. Let dry for 30 to 60 minutes.

Step 2
Position stickers on pumpkin, then apply "sticky size" over entire surface, including stickers. Leave until it's clear and tacky, 10 to 20 minutes.

Step 3
Apply gold and silver leaf. Broken pieces of metal leaf, called Schaibin, lie easily on the pumpkin for a beautiful finish. With a soft cloth, smooth leaf onto surface to fill in gaps. Keep excess leaf for the next project.

Step 4
Carefully pull off stickers using tweezers.

Step 5
Apply toner with a paintbrush. Using a soft cloth, wipe away the toner to achieve the desired color. Leave the toner darker around the stem or in crevices for a more dramatic effect.

for step-by-step pictures visit Country Living

Creative Halloween Decor...

Anyone can create this fun spiderweb for Halloween. You could decorate the ceiling corners of your porch or an interior space with these spiderwebs made of black puff paint and white gauze.

Materials:

Black puff paint for fabric

Nonstick baking sheet

Directions:

1. Using the puff paint draw an L shape on baking sheet. Each line of the L should be the same length.
2. Draw a series of lines, the same length as first lines, radiating outward from the corner of the L.
3. Draw scalloped lines across these lines to form the spiderweb. Make sure all rows are touching.
4. Let dry for 24 hours.
5. Carefully peel the web off nonstick sheet. The hang them.

Spiderweb from Woman's Day

Molding Decoration from Women's Day Halloween Celebrations

tonight's episode of artistically speaking radio...

My talk show tonight features the House That Faux is Building in New Orleans...6:30 PM EDT... Join guests Lyna Farkas, project coordinator and Adrienne van Dooren, founder along with Jane Drew, Project Coordinator in New Orleans; Laine Discepoli, Sponsorship Chair in a lively discussion of the House that Faux Built project that happens the first week of November. There is still time to join in...

In November a mother and two young children will have a home of their own as a result of the efforts of decorative painters with a heart.

In 2005 over 50 of the industries best decorative painters joined forces and transformed a 1940’s home in Maryland into a gallery of faux finishing, stenciling and decorative painting. The project was not merely a showcase of talent and technique, it was designed to make a difference.

The house and the resulting book, The House that Faux Built, was the brainchild of Adrienne Van Dooren. The whole idea behind the project was to fund a Habitat for Humanity home in New Orleans, post-Katrina. Fast forward four years to today....the funds to build the home have been raised and the home is under construction as I write.

paint to make a difference....

”Take the stairs instead of the escalator or elevator and feel better” is something we often hear or read in the Sunday papers. Few people actually follow that advice. Can we get more people to take the stairs over the escalator by making it fun to do? See the results here:

Gotta love this...

In Stockholm’s Odenplan subway station, the staircase has been retrofitted to resemble giant piano keys, which produce real sound, to encourage commuters to climb the stairs rather than ride the escalator. According to this video—which seems to be part of a Volkswagen marketing initiative, though it’s unclear—it’s been a raging success. Freakonomics

Can you think of someplace to do this project? Decorative painters could adopt this idea and spread it throughout the world! Who is ready for this project? Let me know...

from The Fun Theory

Fresco Painting Event to Commemorate the Fall of the Berlin Wall...

Fresco Painting Event for The 20th Anniversary

Celebration of The Fall of the Berlin Wall Project

October 24–25, 10AM–4PM. The “Wall As Canvas II” painting event to be held on the grounds of the Page Museum, 5801 Wilshire Boulevard, Los Angeles, CA 90036

Join iLia Anossov (fresco) of The Fresco School as he paints frescoes on sections of The Wall Across Wilshire as part of the 20th Anniversary celebration of The Fall of the Berlin Wall Project. After a fresco demonstration by iLia, viewers themselves are encouraged to participate in painting frescoes on actual section of The Wall Across Wilshire. On November 8, wall segments will be joined to form “The Wall Across Wilshire.” That evening, during a midnight ceremony, artists will topple the Wall as it is broadcast live on German television.

“Fresco is a dynamic art form that belongs everywhere, not just on church walls,” says Mr. Anossov (fresco). During the “Wall as Canvas II” event, he will re-create works in fresco on sections of the Wall Across Wilshire that he originally painted in oil while he lived in Moscow behind the Iron Curtain in the 1980’s. By painting his former works in oil as fresco, iLia will demonstrate how Fresco painting can be utilized in contemporary forms. His chosen subject matter and style of works made during his years behind the Iron Curtain symbolically expresses a reunion of past and present in the new freedom from “Walls” of any kind whether it would be the wall of Cold War or the wall between classic and contemporary arts.

Because of his passion for the use of environmentally sustainable products, iLia will apply the fresco plaster for this event onto a Stauss brick/clay lath ( http://www.claylath.com ) – a durable and earth-friendly backing for plaster applications. This chemical-free, non-combustible lath is the greenest and most environmentally conscious way to build a wall. The Stauss lath does not rot and creates breathable, earthquake safe walls for the same price of dry construction. By using this clay lath, iLia’s goal is to further educate the public on green building solutions.

for more info visit: http://www.truefresco.org/

__________________________________

Apprentice to fresco master and master plasterer

on the actual buon fresco project

iLia Anossov (fresco) and the Fresco School are starting the painting part of 3000 sq. ft. buon fresco in Malibu, California. There are apprentice opportunities in the month of November 2009. Our existing Students and really really dedicated are encouraged to contact Fresco School for the instructions on how to apply. Qualified individuals will join our international team for an experience of a lifelime. Build a wall fresco from clay-lath to the final touches.

Traditional Building Exhibition and Conference...

In Baltimore, MD this weekend October 21 - 24, 2009

The Traditional Building Exhibition and Conference

Where the Marketplace Meets

Choose from 65 seminars, workshops; architectural tours; keynotes and craftsmanship demonstrations in a four day event. Come for one day or all four. On Wed. there are day long special sessions on sustainability; historic tax credits; and doing business with the Federal Government. Other seminar topics will cover LEED for historic buildings; period interior design; window restoration; life cycle maintenance for historic facilities; old house restoration; plaster repair and sympathetic additions to traditional buildings.

Conference Location:
Baltimore Convention Center
One West Pratt Street
Baltimore, MD 21201
410-649-7000

The Traditional Building Exhibition and Conference is the only national trade show and conference for professionals and entheusiaists who restore and renovate historic buildings and houses. The show’s Web site is a place where visitors can keep up to date on events planned for the next event, including seminars, workshops, architectural tours, technical training sessions, keynote addresses, and networking opportunities. The Traditional Building Exhibition and Conference features a wide offering of educational programs in preservation, restoration and renovation, traditionally inspired new construction, New Urbanism, classicism, modernism, and other related topics.

The exhibition also offers hundreds of hard-to-find products and services not available at any other event and, in the process, attracts 6,000 participants—architects, members of the building trades, old-house owners, preservationists, and others in the field.

Restore Media has a great collection of websites including:

Clem Labine's Traditional Building

For nearly 15 years, traditional-building.com has been the premier gateway to information about the field of traditional building and design, containing targeted articles on restoration and renovation projects, new construction in period styles, architectural firms, cutting-edge topics, important news developments, and key product categories. Long the best in the business, its deep and rich database is also the place professionals begin their search for commercial and institutional products used in restoration, renovation, preservation, and historically inspired new construction. The site attracts more than 160,000 visitors and 500,000 page views each month.

there is a database for Decorative Artisans...

ARTISANS FOR DECORATIVE PAINTING, GLAZING, GILDING, MARBLEIZING, GRAINING, STENCILING, VENETIAN PLASTER

Clem Labine's Period Homes

Launched in 2001, period-homes.com is a serious tool for busy practitioners and serious-minded consumers interested in learning more about the field of residential restoration and renovation, as well as historically inspired new construction. It contains a treasure trove of articles on leading architectural firms, recent projects, topics of note to the field, significant news developments, and key product categories. With targeted product information on thousands of items and hundreds of suppliers, all indexed on the site, it's the place where architects, builders, interior designers, developers, and other professionals begin their search for period products of all kinds. The site attracts more than 70,000 visitors and nearly 180,000 page views each month.

Tradweb
Launched in the fall of 2006 and based on Traditional Building magazine's powerful publishing franchise, tradweb (tradwebdirectory.com) contains the most comprehensive collection of information about service providers in the field of building restoration and renovation, both commercial and residential.

BuildingPort.com
Launched in early 2009, BuildingPort.com is a portal site packed with deep and rich information on both commercial and residential design and construction, everything from feature articles to product reviews to links to relevant Web sites. With 26 topics; hundreds of sub-topics; spot-on search tools; and data about more than 5,000 suppliers of building products, materials, and services, BuildingPort.com delivers targeted information to visitors looking for quick and accurate search results.

Traditional Product Reports


Launched in May of 2009, Traditional Product Reports is a micro site containing in-depth information on traditional building products and materials, including checklists, directories, buying guides, case studies, stories, articles, primers, installation tips, and other information, along with thousands of links to manufacturers, distributors, dealers, contractors, installers, and others in the field of traditional building and design; new monthly reports on featured product categories; and tools that let visitors search and browse product databases containing information on thousands of companies in the market.

Traditional Product Galleries

Launched in September 2009, Traditional Product Galleries is the latest addition to Restore Media’s robust network of Internet sites covering traditional design and construction. Organized in easy-to-search categories, it features thousands of items—in big, colorful photography—tailored to the requirements of restoration and renovation projects and new designs done in a period style—both residential and commercial. It also offers contact information for hundreds of companies in the traditional building and design market and provides ways for visitors to quickly connect with interesting suppliers.

all information and photos in this post provided by www.restoremedia.com

first episode of talk show...

Here it is...the first episode of artistically speaking radio has been broadcast!!!

I am really excited!!!! Listen as Rebecca walks you through the new magazine, talk show, and community for decorative artisans, faux finishers, muralists. You can hear it below...just click the arrow button. There is a blank air space in the middle for about 5 seconds...so don't give up it resumes. Let me know how you like it!!